About Dr. Lee
Joonwoo Lee, PhD (he/him), is an Assistant Professor of Counseling Psychology in the Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Research at the University of Memphis. He received his PhD in Counseling Psychology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and completed his APA-accredited predoctoral internship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School in the Gender Affirming Care Track.
Dr. Lee’s research centers the strength, healing, and liberation of transgender and nonbinary communities, particularly in the contexts of relational trauma, psychotherapy, and gender-affirming health care. Rather than approaching transgender experiences through frameworks of damage, his work examines how trans identity, community, and critical consciousness can uniquely serve as resources for healing and liberation.
The first line of his research examines relational trauma and healing among transgender and nonbinary people. His dissertation, Transness Is Our Salve, developed a grounded theory of how transgender identity can facilitate healing from relational trauma involving parental figures. This work shifts how psychologists conceptualize parental trauma among transgender and nonbinary people by showing how trans identity can become a catalyst for recognizing, disrupting, and healing from longstanding parental and intergenerational trauma.
A second line of his scholarship centers on intervention development for transgender and nonbinary communities. His work examines how healing-centered and liberation-oriented principles can be translated into psychotherapy, including identifying mechanisms of change and operationalizing the Psychology of Radical Healing with trans people of color, and developing strength-focused adaptations of Cognitive Processing Therapy for transgender and nonbinary adults healing from relational trauma. He also co-developed the Companionship Model, which brings similar principles to gender-affirming referral letter writing by shifting practice away from gatekeeping and toward collaborative, resource-focused care.
His scholarship also extends internationally, with a sustained program of work focused on transgender and nonbinary communities in South Korea. This work centers on reducing barriers to gender-affirming care and adapting affirming clinical practices to local cultural and institutional contexts. He has served as an expert reviewer for the Korean translation of the WPATH Standards of Care Version 8, organized a national roundtable on barriers to implementation, and provided clinician trainings on gender-affirming referral letter practices. Current projects extend this work through the development of culturally specific Korean practice guidance for implementing the Standards of Care Version 8.
Education
PhD, Counseling Psychology
University of Wisconsin–Madison, 2026
Predoctoral Clinical Psychology Internship, Gender Affirming Care Track
Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, 2025–2026
M.Ed., Counseling
Korea University, Seoul, South Korea, 2020
Selected Publications
Lee, J., Barr, S. M., Gloria, A., Roberts, T., & Budge, S. L. (2026). Transness is our salve: How trans identity facilitates healing from relational trauma with parental figures. Journal of Traumatic Stress.
Lee, J., Mize, G., Pili, A., Budge, S. L., & Tebbe, E. (in press). “I felt seen in ways I never had before”: What and how psychotherapy change occurs for Two Spirit, transgender, and nonbinary people of color in Psychology of Radical Healing-informed psychotherapy. The Counseling Psychologist.
Lee, J., Domínguez, S., Jr., Norton, M., Richards, K., Turner, Y., & Budge, S. L. (in press). Let’s find a sweet spot to co-conspire: Using community-based participatory research to increase access to affirming psychotherapy for transgender people of color. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity.
Lee, J., Gao, S., Norton, M., Domínguez, S., Tebbe, E. A., & Budge, S. L. (2025). Understanding psychotherapy goals of two spirit, trans, and nonbinary people of color in a culturally responsive psychotherapy. Journal of counseling psychology, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000838
Lee, J., Kim, H., & Budge, S. L. (2024). Psychological assessment for gender-affirming care in transgender and nonbinary youth: The Companionship Model. Harvard Review of Psychiatry.
Selected Awards
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2026 Distinguished Dissertation in Qualitative Inquiry Award, Division 5 (Quantitative and Qualitative Methods), American Psychological Association
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2026 SASOGD Changemakers Award, Division 17 Section for the Advocacy of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity (SASOGD), American Psychological Association
- 2025 Editor’s Choice Article, Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, for “Using the Companionship Model When Writing Referral Letters for Transgender and Nonbinary Adults (2023)”
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2024 Award for Outstanding Social Justice & Advocacy in Counseling Psychology, Division 17 (SAS), American Psychological Association
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2023 Transgender Research Award, Division 44, American Psychological Association